


the coldest calm falls through molten veins

by afrocurl



Category: X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, BAMF Charles, Dubious Consent, Dubious Ethics, Emma Frost HBIC, F/M, M/M, Mind Control, Unresolved Romantic Tension, Unresolved Sexual Tension
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-14
Updated: 2015-02-14
Packaged: 2018-03-12 10:05:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3352574
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/afrocurl/pseuds/afrocurl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Charles heard rumors that made him more than curious about the sexual fantasies of Lady Emma Frost, daughter of King Frost. What he discovered was more than he bargained for and more than he imagined possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	the coldest calm falls through molten veins

**Author's Note:**

  * For [riais](https://archiveofourown.org/users/riais/gifts).



> Based off [this lovely prompt](http://i.imgur.com/rzdSGhY.jpg). Link to a masterpost is now [here](http://jeriais.tumblr.com/post/111345862086).
> 
> See end notes for content warnings based on the one specific tag.

Genosha’s gossip mongers were tittering and tattling about something that Charles cared little for this afternoon. They were always going on and on in the public gardens and at court about whose husband or wife was unsatisfied in bed or who was about to find themselves at the short end of a sword for some small slight at a party. 

It was all inane chatter to him, until the day he was sitting having tea with Raven when someone at the next table over said, “I hear Lady Frost has found a new boy to please her. That young Lehnsherr lad, only barely legal, has been seen going in and out of her quarters late at night and in the quiet hours of the morning. I’ve heard tales of the screaming they both make, enough to wake all the courtiers near her rooms; all positively scandalous. He’s besotted with her when someone sees him later.”

Charles coughed loudly to get the women to stop their conversation and move onto something else droll, because the idea of anyone talking about a boy who was just fourteen and a woman who was nearing thirty and well on her way to being the loneliest woman in Hammer Bay was disgusting. Especially if that boy loved her, for whatever reason. If he were to listen to gossip, it might as well be something that didn’t make his skin crawl. Her father, King Winston, was a shrewd man who was always looking for new matches for her, but this was low even for him. Even if Lehnsherr had large lands in the north and an equally large following of loyal followers, there were matches that shouldn’t be made in Charles’ mind; the young should not be whored out to someone like Emma just for land and an army, King Winston be damned.

But as the women carried on with another conversation, it dawned on Charles that Erik Lehnsherr had been closer to his age - not a boy only just legal. It was odd, but Charles dismissed it because gossip always had half, or less, of the story.

“So Raven, dearest, tell me about these suitors you have. We can’t trust Kurt to make you a good match. When do I need to meet with any of them to undercut his interests?”

-

Charles’ head spun with all the information that Raven had shared about her suitors, or at least the three that held the most promise in mind. There was Henry of House McCoy, who was bookish but sensible in a way that would allow Raven to control their marriage; Irene of House Adler, who was older but known as being wise and gifted in strategy who would keep Raven’s eagerness in check but still allow her some spirited debates; Azazel, who had no House, but who had captured her attention so far as a swift fighter and trusted companion to Lady Frost and Lord Shaw.

Hearing Lady Frost’s name brought Charles back to the petty words of those women earlier, however. Since they had left the garden, and Charles had had time to recover from the increasing heat at the height of the day, he had thought more and more about Erik of House Lehnsherr. The man had been a darling amongst a small set in Court when he and Charles were eighteen and sixteen respectively. Erik understood more and more of the politics of Genosha but was not well-known to all the courtiers to be a true master and influential figure. Erik had been as shrewd as King Winston was, and had also a head for some war strategy that had many around talking of him taking over all of the King’s campaigns in the north when his father died.

Sebastian of House Shaw had been fond of Erik, Charles remembered, and currently Sebastian had found himself trusted advisor to all of the Frost family, all but First Advisor without the approval of every courtier in Genosha. Erik, however, had been less than thrilled with the man. Perhaps that was why Emma had found him interesting now - even if she was keener on the boy Erik had been at ten and seven than the man he was at three and thirty. There were too many facets to what could have been from Erik’s return to Hammer Bay, and as he was, Charles couldn’t probe his way into more of the details. 

Charles remembered how Erik had rebuffed so much of Court life just after his parents had been slain in the streets just after his nineteenth birthday, leaving Hammer Bay for his family’s home in the northern part of the island. Until recently Charles had nearly forgotten about him, except when he would pass the Great Hall where the banners of all the Houses were displayed. The deep blue with a touch of silver stood out to Charles’ mind amid the seas of greens and reds favored by most families to better compliment the brightest of whites in the Frost crest.

It was too hard for Charles to think through much else about why Erik would return now - after nearly fifteen years away - and why he had chosen to fall into the bed of Lady Frost who was too close to the man Erik detested. Erik may have been fickle as a rash grieving young man, but he was not the sort of man to run into the arms of people who would not approve of what he said and how he acted, regardless of how desired Lady Frost might be.

With Charles’ mind remembering enough of Erik now, though, he also had to figure out how to go about finding out if there was any truth in the gossip without doing much to ruin his reputation as always aloof and disinterested. His position would not allow him to ask directly, he knew, but there were always others around to help him understand the situation.

-

Alex, Charles’ page, was always helpful when Charles couldn’t use his own sway for answers; the boy had been a gem as a struggling boy in Charles’ home, and Kurt had had little use for a boy who shot plasma from his chest when Charles sought to leave the oppression of the main home for his own adventures. Alex, Charles had learned over many years, had none of Charles’ problems with gossip, and was only happy to go about his job and also ask questions about the boy who was warming Lady Frost’s bed. It would serve Charles well to know more about what Lady Frost was like in bed, on the off chance that King Winston decided to look at men closer to the Lady’s age should Erik fall out of favor.

With every bit of fervor Alex had, he went off and gathered news for Charles at the end of each day. Every day Charles had more news, and none of it good to his mind. Erik, as a young man of ten and four, had always been seen around Lady Frost’s rooms but no one remembered that Erik wasn’t in fact such a young boy. It all smelled of Lady Frost’s powers, which she used far more liberally than Charles ever had.

His gift for mindreading was well known, but he refused to use it more often than not. Erik had been like that as a younger man, too, only using his powers over magnetism when it was absolutely necessary for his daily life. It was one of the reasons that he and Charles had been so close years ago, and if he was under the influence of Lady Frost, it had be have been under her powers rather than Erik’s will. Erik had never allowed Charles access to his mind in a way that would remove his control; all Charles had been able to do for years was to talk to Erik, mind to mind, and read only the thoughts that Erik couldn’t help but broadcast.

Lady Frost wielded her power as if it were icicles that were in her grasp to stab into minds without thought or feeling for what would happen when she left. She had loved to control her servants and influence what they did, so that her employees knew they would be forced into mindless acts at whim. Charles never stood for that sort of violence and subjugation by others and he wouldn’t start now.

Before he could rescue Erik, though, he had to be sure of what had happened. It meant that he had to play a role he hated: reluctant courtier. Small talk and numerous parties were in his future, even if the idea alone make him want to crawl away and hide.

-

Raven’s marriage prospects were the perfect reason for Charles to pay more attention at lavish dinners, all on the pretense of finding out more about her suitors. Not that Charles didn’t know everything about those who were after Raven’s large dowry. She was rather old to still be available, but with Kurt being as he was, Charles had held out as long as possible to have her presented to the King before she could be wed without Kurt’s influence. It helped that at her age, she was sure to have suitors who were truly interested in her, rather than solely for her purse or womb, but it wasn’t perfect either way.

Currently Charles had found himself standing next to one of Lord Worthington’s wives - Charles couldn’t remember how many the man had had now - who happily blabbered about the latest fashions Lady Frost was introducing.

“She insists that all of us only have one color to focus on; she prefers white above all else. Do you think I should go with blue or a deep red?” she asked. 

“I couldn’t possibly tell you, mi’lady. I have no sense of those things. But what is the color of your house? Shouldn’t you wear that if Lady Frost is wearing the white of hers?” It was clear to anyone who met him that he cared little for those things; his tunic was probably four years old and styled in a way that King Winston hardly favored now. Charles didn’t want to spend his own purse on things so material when he could have spent the money on his pursuits in the sciences or patronage of those who truly needed help rising above their station.

But his position as a man who was careless of courtly issues did allow him time to ask, “Speaking of Lady Frost, everyone’s talking about her new man. What do you know of him?”

“Oh,” she started, “I don’t know too much. She has found a young man and I’ve heard his name is Erik. Lady Grey saw him just the other day and the boy said that he was in love with Lady Frost, hoping to ask King Winston in a few weeks about marriage; he seems to favor her most ardently.”

“Wasn’t there another Erik around the same age as she and I?”

“Was there? I don’t remember anyone like that.”

At that, Charles hummed and wrapped up the conversation as best he could. That was useful information for him when the time came. If everyone else had forgotten Erik save for him, Emma’s gift was at play. It wouldn’t end well either if she had designs for Erik and the rest of Hammer Bay.

-

The rest of that dinner proved much the same point that Charles had surmised from Lady Worthington: Erik’s history had been erased so that everyone only thought of him as a young man who was spending time with Lady Frost and how deeply in love he was with her after that. It was not just the courtiers that had forgotten Erik, though, it was also all the staff. Alex’s own inquiries had revealed that no one thought it odd for such a young boy to be around Lady Frost or that he wasn’t young at all for her.

Puzzling, Charles wanted to be sure that Raven’t wasn’t affected either. If Lady Frost were controlling most of Hammer Bay into her lies about Erik, it would cut Charles off at the knees if there was only one person he could trust.

Over a quiet breakfast with Raven days later, Charles brought up the subject while he should have been asking about her suitors.

“Do you remember my friend Erik from when we were young?”

She finished her piece of bread before saying, “I can’t recall anyone by that name, but I was far too young to keep up with your friends. Now, tell me, what did you think of Azazel at dinner?”

That she ignored his question and had no answer was all that Charles needed to know. Lady Frost - and whoever else she might be working with: likely Shaw and Azazel - were up to something and it wasn’t good at all. He had had little use of watching what the Frosts did about town, but now he did because it concerned his only friend as a young boy.

-

“Alex, you must be very careful with asking more questions. I have all the information that I need, but if anyone else asks why you aren’t asking more, say that I was ill and asking you strange things and I’ve returned to my senses.”

“But you’ve been at so many dinners. How will anyone believe you were ill?”

“Leave that to me, if you will.”

Alex nodded and went back to getting Charles’ breakfast ready on the table. Charles hoped that nothing else would come from how he had had Alex ask questions, because Lady Frost, and her whole family, were powerful indeed.

-

With Azazel being Raven’s favored suitor, it was well within his rights as her brother to ask Lady Frost her opinion of the man. He had sent her a polite request for them to meet over tea one afternoon and she had given her approval for the time and place, as befitting a Lady who should have been a Princess.

Arriving just before they were to meet, Charles stood at the archway covered in greens and waited so that he could properly greet her. It was part of the game that had to be played for her. If he were to challenge her later, no one must know of it until the moment he made the public declaration.

He would fight for Erik no matter what, but especially because Erik would be furious at what was happening to him.

“Lady Frost,” he said as soon as she was close enough to him to reach for his forearm.

“Lord Xavier, how kind of you to entertain me. I’ve been so very bored recently.”

Charles wouldn’t rise to the bait of discussing Erik just yet. “Oh, well, I hope that one of my sister’s suitors is entertaining enough for you.”

“Azazel is always amusing to me,” she said before she turned to stand side-by-side with Charles and allowed him to walk her into the garden.

He made a show of acting as he ought - holding her hand, pulling out her chair, pushing the chair into the table once she was seated - all so the other patrons took notice of how polite and cordial Charles was being.

“Mi’lady, I hope you will allow us a candid conversation about your friend Azazel.”

“But of course. I know that he is fond of your sister, but he has been fond of many other women before.”

“Oh. Should I be worried?”

“No, not at all. He only falls for someone once in a blue moon. He has rather a long lifespan.”

“I hadn’t heard that until now. Thank you, mi’lady.”

“But of course, Lord Xavier. But tell me you have not just come to talk to me about Azazel’s love life. He’s rather a bore once he’s smitten.”

“He sounds like many of us when we’re in love. Do you find that true?” He was reaching, he knew, but it was all he could do right now.

“I wouldn’t say that I’m in love, Lord Xavier, but I am rather interested in someone right now.”

“Hmm. I had heard something of that. A very young man, someone said the other week here. He’s said to be very fond of you.”

“People will say anything they want to believe. You know that. I’m not ready to discuss the details of what the man and I are together, but he is a very good lover.”

“I would hope he was if he is as young as I’ve heard.”

“And if he weren’t?” she asked.

“Then I would hope there are other factors to your relationship besides the appeal of youth.”

As he expected her reply, someone came out with a tray of cakes and other delights with the tea set.

He went about serving her and let the rest of the meeting pass by without much thought. He had all the information he needed about what was going on.

-

Whatever Lady Frost was doing with Erik, it was worth him using his powers to discover the absolute truth. Following their tea, he went to his room for a quiet evening and as soon as the minds around the Castle had started to settle into slumber, Charles left his rooms and went toward Lady Frost’s.

He made it so that no one would notice him - one use of his powers that he hated - and as soon as he could, he stood outside her door.

Behind it, there were obvious sounds of a couple sleeping together and Charles had to stand there and wait for them to be through. It was torture to hear what it was like for Erik to fuck into Lady Frost, but it was for Erik’s own good for him to be free of this.

In the small part of Charles’ mind, though, the sounds were something that thrilled him and even made him curious. He had rather a limited view of sex amongst those in Hammer Bay because nearly everyone found mindreaders troublesome, but he had had chances with a few men and women to know that their lovemaking had been lacking.

Erik had been one of the only people in Hammer Bay to have found Charles’ gift beautiful - even if it was used within certain limits - and after so many others who balked and with lady Frost’s interests, it had made Charles realize he had feelings beyond that of a friend for Erik.

It was a heady feeling to have now - just as he was about to confront Lady Frost, it was making him question if it was at all a good idea. But feeling it all the same made him throw caution to the wind and barge into Lady Frost’s rooms.

On the floor Lady Frost grabbed for her dress to drape across her naked body, but Erik was motionless, struck dumb by fear.

“You’ll let him go, Lady Frost. Lord Lehnsherr would never want this.”

“What he wants is of no consequence to you, Lord Xavier. He is mine.”

“I love her, your lordship,” Erik added, finally moving away from Emma’s body.

“He never would have wanted you,” he shouted.

“And that is why he is mine. I always have what I want.”

“Why would you want him, a man who would fight you, when you could have any number of sycophants?”

“There is no challenge there.” She stood now and glared at Charles for interrupting her nightly entertainment.

“But there is a challenge in controlling a man to your will?”

“You’d know if you ever used your gifts.”

“What are you both saying? Gifts? What does is mean Emma?”

Now Charles had to laugh and he used all of his powers to manipulate the rooms around them. Rather than keeping Erik prone on the floor, Charles quickly undid all of what Emma had done. Charles righted Erik’s appearance just as he came to, coughing as his lungs grew used to air again.

“What?” Erik asked.

“It’ll be explained later, Erik, but for now, you must focus on my voice. On my mind if you can. Never let Lady Frost back into your mind.”

Erik started to protest, but when he did, Charles felt Lady Frost’s power trying to overtake Erik’s mind. She crowded around him, holding him by the shoulder as she stared at Charles. “Resist it, Erik! Remember what we said as boys.”

Behind Erik, Emma looked like she wanted to envelop him whole, wanting to grip his body from behind. She wanted to keep him close and Charles wouldn’t allow that. 

“Together,” Erik whispered. His eyes shone now with a pain that Charles had never seen from Erik before. But if Erik remembered that they had been friends as boy, Emma’s plans were on the way to failing.

“Yes, that. We’re together.” Charles pushed his own power at Lady Frost, controlling himself against her attack. He was stronger, he knew, but she used her powers far more often. “I don’t love her. I don’t love her.”

“He’s mine!” she yelled as her grip tightened and she started to look wan.

“No, he’s his own man. He never wanted to be a puppet of your family’s or Shaw’s.”

“And that’s why he was the perfect person to bring back, only just a bit different.”

Erik started to choke on something, Lady Frost’s work. Charles dug deep into Lady Frost’s mind and ripped at her control of Erik. He sliced away through the tendrils of power in Erik’s memories and told Erik of all the rumors that had been spread for months on end.

“Finish her,” Erik managed to say when he could. Charles was powerful now to not deny Erik anything and so Charles took all of his strength and dove--

-

Months had passed since Charles had battled Lady Frost but nothing of Hammer Bay had been the same.

News of what she had done was widespread and her power - and that of her father - had shriveled up. No one could trust the Frosts if that was how Lady Frost sought to right a perceived slight.

Power was up for anyone who wanted it, but Charles cared little for that now. He never had and never would. Courtiers asked him regularly, but he denied their requests when he knew that they were focusing on his potential role as the new King of Genosha. He had had little use to reply to them now, however.

Kurt had stopped Raven’s interest in Azazel and it seemed as if Raven must choose between Lord McCoy and Lady Adler, Lady Adler had an advantage. Charles sat pleased at the news as he looked over the grounds of his new residence.

Beside him, Erik sat taking in another letter from Hammer Bay. “You don’t think you’ve done wrong?” Erik asked.

“No, never. I want power as much as Emma wanted peace amongst the families.”

“But you could have had it so easily.”

“Without you. There is no power worth more than you.”

Erik shook his head. Charles knew that his feelings had been difficult for Erik to understand and reciprocate, but that hadn’t meant that Erik wouldn’t welcome Charles at his home to keep him safe. “You’ll leave everything in Hammer Bay to look after my mind? To look after me?”

“I’m here looking after you. However you want to interpret that, you may.”

“Even if I never feel as you do?” Erik asked so many questions these last few weeks, but Charles didn’t mind them at all. It was a sign that Erik was processing what Charles felt for him as Erik tried to coalesce his own mind.

“I missed you too much to keep myself from you. However that is. We have all the time here to sort through anything and everything that comes to mind.”

“Far too kind of you.”

“Not at all. I’m saved all of Hammer Bay’s drama, except that which Raven and Irene send me.”

Erik laughed at that. “There’s the real reason you’ve left. Nothing to do with me.”

“Oh, it has everything to do with you. It always will.”

**Author's Note:**

> Underage tagged for the perception Emma casts over everyone even if Erik is well above the age of consent.
> 
> \--
> 
> Thanks to Casey, Di and J for the beta help. All remaining mistakes are afrocurl's.


End file.
